Full Circle

Let’s face it, Mongolia is a long way to go camping. And if the 20,000-mile round trip out to the desolate steppes sounds a tad too far for that night in a yurt camping experience, then look no further. Full Circle is camping with a round twist. For the uninitiated, a yurt is a traditional home of the nomadic tribes that eke out their eon-old existence in the steppes of East and Central Asia, from Iran to Mongolia. Essentially it is a wooden-lattice framed circular tent that supports a conical roof. Historically they’d be covered in animal hide and traditional folk designs, able to withstand the –50°C temperatures the nomads have to contend with. Thankfully, you’ll not have to endure such harsh extremes. 

Full Circle’s yurts sport their own wood-burning stove and with the massive log pile provided it’ll be like a Scandinavian sweat lodge come nightfall. These yurts are the real deal. Shipped in from the steppes, they’re crafted by a yurt maker in Ulaan Baatar, each one intricately and ornately decorated with traditional designs. Inside, it’s not as spartan as those that Genghis and his hordes would have decamped to after a hard day’s pillaging. Each yurt has a rug-covered wooden floor, and comfy double and single beds; they can sleep a tribe up to six comfortably with its reserve of blow-up mattresses. A large supply of candles, tea-lights, a small stove and armoury of cooking equipment, board games and books mean that once you’re in, you’ll never actually have to leave until your stay comes to an end. And that’s part of the ethos behind the camping here at Full Circle. Whilst at home we live our separate lives in our own quarter of our home, here whole families and friends enjoy communal living. 

Where the wooden slats of the yurt come together a small, jigsaw-like circular window stares skywards. Come night-time, you can lie back, watch the fire dance on the walls from your toasty bed and stare out at the starry lights above, or just listen out for the bark of deer in the woods. Each yurt is set idyllically amongst the woodlands surrounding nearby Rydall Beck, looking down the hillside with the faint sliver of Windermere sometimes visible on the horizon. Within earshot, Rydal Beck rumbles its way through the woods; a pathway at the back of the site follows the river up into the hills, past its endless falls, torrents, plunge pools and weirs, all the way to Rydal Water. But you needn’t go so far to escape into the surrounding green. There’s always Rydal Hall’s 30-acre woodland to explore, enough to keep you occupied for a week, with its sculptures and its 600-year-old sweet chestnut tree, as well as the international additions of towering redwoods and Japanese maples. Whilst this may not be Mongolia, come day’s end when you’re staring up at the night sky as the wood crackles in the hearth, it’ll at least feel like you’re a million miles from home.